| Mobile handsets are part and parcel of doing business | | | | mobiles, your staff will need some training on their |
| in this day and age, your employees need to be able | | | | capabilities, and your vendor will need to be able to |
| to get voice messages on the road. Getting the right | | | | handle support calls as well as support contracts. |
| mobile handset for your company's needs is | | | | Make sure you've got a good account manager on |
| something that runs through a gamut of choices. | | | | the vendor side to help with transitions and new |
| First, do you need a company data plan? The short | | | | hardware roll out. |
| answer is that they're getting less and less | | | | As for specific phones and models thereof, it |
| expensive, and once employees have the ability to | | | | depends largely on personal preference. The industry |
| check email from their handsets, they seldom ever | | | | leader is the Canadian Blackberry, from Research In |
| want to give up that capability. Packages for data | | | | Motion. The first phone with data capabilities including |
| plans will include fees for integration with your email | | | | push email facilities (allowing real time notifications of |
| server software. | | | | new email), it quickly became the industry standard; |
| Second, does the company have an existing contract | | | | there are now several models to choose from, |
| for voice phones with an existing mobile phone | | | | though most offer the same basic capabilities. The |
| network provider? If so, do they offer handsets that | | | | Blackberry user base is quite vocal about the |
| integrate with your needs for voice-and-data | | | | keyboards on the devices. |
| telephones? If not, it's time to do some comparison | | | | On the other end of the spectrum is the Apple |
| shopping. Look for as close as you can get to | | | | iPhone; it's a pricey design, and offers a lot of |
| unlimited data plans, and look for network stability | | | | capabilities that a business phone doesn't specifically |
| and coverage within your general service area. A | | | | require (such as watching television programs on the |
| mobile that your employees can't make any calls on | | | | device) and it's still waiting on a full features email |
| isn't a bargain, no matter how much you save on it | | | | push system. On the other hand, it's the most |
| per year. | | | | customizable telephone out there, and the ability to |
| Third, look at support services - does your vendor | | | | run applications that your agents need is quite handy. |
| support all the phones that you have, or are some | | | | Whatever your mobile business phone needs are, |
| models reaching their end of expected service life? | | | | you should poll your users to find out what |
| How much will it cost to replace phones? What about | | | | capabilities they currently use, and what capabilities |
| their policies for missing and damaged phones? Mobile | | | | they wish they had. The lure of a smart phone with |
| phones are one of the most commonly misplaced | | | | voice and data integration is that it can allow your |
| items on public transportation, and ones that have | | | | employees to make use of downtime to be more |
| data access can be especially tricky to track down | | | | productive, keep that in mind while you weigh your |
| and replace. | | | | options. |
| Related to this, if you're rolling out a new set of | | | | |